Enheritaunce

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Archaic spelling for property, land, or rights that pass to a person by legal succession upon the death of an owner
2. An old form of the word for estate or possessions handed down to a rightful heir from a deceased relative
3. Obsolete variant denoting the goods, titles, or lands that descend to someone through lawful succession from an ancestor

Etymology: This is an older spelling of "inheritance," the form English used when the word was borrowed from Old French, where "enheritance" meant the legal passing of land or property to an heir. The French word came from "enheriter," "to make someone an heir," built from "en-," meaning "in" or "into," and "heriter," from Latin "heres," meaning "heir." English adopted the word in the Middle Ages and spelled it with the "en-" prefix for several centuries. The spelling later changed to "inheritance" with the "in-" prefix, probably to match the Latin roots more closely, a common change in English spelling during the Renaissance. The underlying idea is still the same: to be made an heir, to receive what the previous holder leaves behind. "Heir" and "heredity" come from the same Latin root.